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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23313349">I see truth somewhere in your eyes</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeyaAmaya/pseuds/DeyaAmaya'>DeyaAmaya</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>All For The Game - Nora Sakavic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>COVID-19, College AU, F/M, M/M, Magic, Making Out, Quarantine, Sickfic, Sickness, Smut, lockdown fest, no exy, sculptor! Kevin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 15:00:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,765</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23313349</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeyaAmaya/pseuds/DeyaAmaya</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In a moment of insanity, Kevin decides to check Instagram. In the multitude of inane celebrity posts telling the mass people to stay home, he finds a lovely, recent photography of Thea. Someone from their College took it. The lighting perfectly captured the dried tear tracks down her unmoving face. Kevin disregards the emotional caption and instead checks the date. 18 March, the night he-</p><p> </p><p>(The night he thought he had a hallucination.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kevin Day/Thea Muldani, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Lock Down Fest</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Then and Now</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>a/n: The chapters are either too big or too small, and I posted this without showing to my beta. If you're squeamish about the coronavirus symptoms and Kevin going through them, just, be cautious.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b><em>Then</em> </b>
</p><p> </p><p>The heart of Palmetto State University wasn’t its illustrious Exy Stadium, or the gaudy administrative building pretending to be art-deco, or even the glistening blue swimming pool.</p><p> </p><p>No, PSU's heart was the Crying Maiden.    </p><p> </p><p>She was found in a collection of Bernini pieces, but tests revealed the smooth white stone to predate all his other work.</p><p> </p><p><em> Maybe she's his first success </em>, some argued.</p><p> </p><p><em> Maybe she's someone else's, someone Bernini learned from, </em> others argued.</p><p> </p><p>A rust eaten plate at her feet declared her to be Thea, the rest of her name missing. Barely anyone called her that, though. She was better known as the Crying Maiden of PSU. Rumor has it that people had seen her stone eyes brim with tears.</p><p> </p><p>Absolute bollocks, if you asked Kevin Day.</p><p> </p><p>(Nobody actually did, but he expressed his opinion anyway. For all that he had the ambition to be the best sculptor in his lifetime, he was also a history nerd. His passionate speeches were frequent and prone to induce a headache in those unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity.</p><p> </p><p>"There's just something about your voice, Kev," his best friend said in a deadpan voice and expression. "It can produce a migraine with 200% accuracy.")</p><p> </p><p>Kevin was, like most others who knew about the Maiden, fascinated with her. He'd made numerous sketches of her, dug through history to find more about her, to no avail. </p><p> </p><p>("This is a bit unhealthy, don’t you think, Kevin?" his father had asked gruffly. Kevin, a teenager at that time, had thinned his lips and left the room, a sudden and inexplicable fury bubbling under his skin.)       </p><p> </p><p>He'd wrestled with himself, trying to decide between History and Art. In the end, the artist within him that marvelled at Thea's flawless beauty won out. </p><p> </p><p>Both Neil and Andrew teased him for the choice. Saying the Crying Maiden is the only reason he took up that avenue.</p><p> </p><p>"And what if I did?" Kevin muttered one evening. Well, it was closer to midnight, and he was leaning against Thea's cold feet. "People make choices based on lesser things," he told her, as he told her everything. He always told her everything, since he was what, 11? She's probably the only one who never get a headache from his lectures.</p><p> </p><p>Kevin carried on his studies with gusto, slowly learning enough to let perplexity take root in his mind.</p><p> </p><p>"Bernini never made you, did he?" he asked Thea one day. "You're so much different from all the women - even men - that he carved, I can see it now," he continued. "Who made you, I wonder."</p><p> </p><p>Kevin Day, neurotic, perfectionist, often found himself at her foot. Often enough to be the butt of jokes across campus.</p><p> </p><p>"Whatever," he muttered. That night he wasn't in the mood to talk, even to Thea. He couldn't believe he got beaten up over a roll of toilet paper. Goddamn virus, everyone was going crazy over it. Why would a single person need a truck full of toilet paper, he had no idea. Kevin just wanted one. One!</p><p> </p><p>Instead, he got yelled at, and the asshole even went at him with a hefty fist. Kevin did get his roll, he also got a cut right above his left eyebrow, and an obligatory bottle of Absolut Vodka.   </p><p> </p><p>"Should've known you’d be here," Andrew groused as he sat next to Kevin. "Always the same bloody piece of stone."</p><p> </p><p>"Don't call her that," Kevin slurred. Huh. He's drunker than he intended. Andrew grunted but did not say anything further.</p><p> </p><p><em> Plop </em>  </p><p> </p><p>Kevin's eyes were blurry, but even he could tell the sky was clear, no clouds in sight. But the raindrops kept coming, rolling down his upturned forehead.</p><p> </p><p>Besides him, Andrew made a strangled noise in his throat. Kevin followed the line of his sight, and found-</p><p> </p><p>"She- she's crying," Kevin choked out, dumbfounded.</p><p> </p><p>"Must have some scientific explanation," Andrew said as he regained his composure.</p><p> </p><p>"Not bloody likely," Kevin murmured. Andrew started to wipe at the droplets clinging to Kevin's nose and chin, with his armband no less. Kevin spluttered.</p><p> </p><p>"You have knives in there!"</p><p> </p><p>"They're sheathed, you big baby," Andrew growled and started dragging Kevin away towards his dorm. "Come on. Who knows what was in that water. You need a shower."</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>Now</em> </b>
</p><p> </p><p>"What do you mean it’s fine to be quarantined," Kevin yells at Neil over the phone.</p><p> </p><p>"Get your head out of your ass, Kevin," Neil admonishes. "Get some supplies and stay the fuck at home. It's already a pandemic. People are dying like insects. If I can manage to stay in the same house for two weeks, surely you can? Use this time to make a replica of Thea, why don’t you?"</p><p> </p><p>Frustrated, Kevin throws the phone across his bedroom. The decrepit dorm room is mediocre at best, cluttered with his sculpting equipment and WIP's. He can't believe he has to stay here for two fucking weeks. Fuck his neighbor for getting tested positive for coronavirus and forcing the whole building into quarantine.</p><p> </p><p>Andrew comes to the rescue, leaving tightly packed bags of grocery outside the dorm, carried in by personnel in hazmat suits to Kevin's doorstep. They'll easily breeze him over for a month.</p><p> </p><p>"Don't do anything stupid," Andrew warns him on skype, five days into the exile. There are dark purple shadows under his eyes, his mouth stuck in a downward curl. It must be hard for him, Kevin surmises, having both his lover and best friend in quarantine. He took precautions early and made sure both Nicky and Aaron are staying home with their significant others.    </p><p> </p><p>"You're staying safe, right?" Kevin asks, anxious. Andrew, mother hen that he is, neglects himself beyond belief sometimes. He grunts, looking annoyed.</p><p> </p><p>"Neil has been skyping three times a day," Andrew admits. Kevin feels his face pull into a grin. He can trust Neil would keep Andrew in line.</p><p> </p><p>Kevin goes back to using this downtime to work on Thea's replica. But, well, after seven days even that starts to bore him. And he's starting to notice all the flaws in his work, making him want to smash the whole model into pieces.</p><p> </p><p>He grits his teeth and keeps working, even though the dust particles left floating in the air are making him sneeze and cough. Without any structure to his days, he's been forgoing meals, only snacking now and then when he feels lightheaded. His father calls to ask about his wellbeing. Kevin lies through his teeth, and downs a bowl of pre-made salad to assuage his guilt. </p><p> </p><p>The death toll continues to rise. When he makes calls, instead of the dial tone, he finds some National message about the coronavirus. People lose jobs. The stock market tanks. In front of his eyes, the campus turns deserted.</p><p> </p><p>Thea remains the only thing unchanged. She remains in her pose of taking a tentative step forwards, face gently tilted to the side. Kevin feels the urge to sit at her feet every evening, tell her everything that he's not talking about. The replica half-finished in his room does not hold a candle to the original. </p><p> </p><p>The end of the second week comes crawling, and travel ban lifts from the UK, though Neil still cannot come back.</p><p> </p><p>"I swear to god I'll hijack a plane," Neil whispers to Kevin in a late-night call. He looks absolutely wrecked, his eyes darting around every few seconds. It's really a miracle that he's managed to stay cooped up this long, Kevin thinks. </p><p> </p><p>In a moment of insanity, Kevin decides to check Instagram. In the multitude of inane celebrity posts telling the mass people to stay home, he finds a lovely, recent photography of Thea. Someone from their College took it. The lighting perfectly captured the dried tear tracks down her unmoving face. Kevin disregards the emotional caption and instead checks the date. 18 March, the night he-</p><p> </p><p>(The night he thought he had a hallucination.)</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The clock is ticking</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The weather turns pleasant near the end of the quarantine. Kevin has a dry cough and spends most of Tuesday morning sitting on a patch of sunlight, eyeing the replica he's finally finished and thinking about his dreams.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dreaming about Thea is nothing new to him. He's centered his life around her for years, holding one-sided conversations and imagining her responses. He's had dreams and nightmares of ancient times, either following Thea's laughter or flinching at her horrified screams. But lately.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lately, she's different in his dreams. Lately, there's a perpetual frown on her face. It makes Kevin want to reach out and touch the corner of her lips, that side where a little round mole winks at him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Last night was a dream like that. For the first time, Kevin could actually understand her words.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Scared for you</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Thea said. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Scared for you, Keehaa. You should take care of yourself.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It made Kevin feel unsettled, the dream, her voice, and that name. He drinks tea to soothe his throat and contemplates calling the Emergency Hotline.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It proves to be useless. The line is busy. He tries five times within a couple of hours and gives up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>By mid-afternoon, he's unable to breathe, and every attempt brings tears to his eyes. He drags his fatigued body to the elevators. They're deserted. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Where are the guards tasked to keep them all inside?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kevin trudges back and decides to call Andrew. It's Neil who picks up. The video call is grainy, probably because the room is dark. Andrew is asleep on his side while Neil peeks over his shoulder. The two of them look relaxed for the first time since this debacle started.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Kevin, what's up," Neil asks, still half asleep.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I think I'm sick," Kevin croaks.        </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Things get a little foggy after that, Kevin thinks. At one point, he finds himself thinking finally since there are no guards, he can go to Thea.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So he does.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It's a long way down the stairs, did he always live so far up? He leans against Thea's legs, only to find she's crying again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh, Thea," he manages with what little breath he has left. "My love, don't cry."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The world goes black. </span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Right on time</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Andrew breaks at least a dozen traffic rules and gets to Kevin's dorm just in time to find his slumped form at the podium where that blasted statue stood. Only now, the statue has vanished and there's a ridiculously dressed woman crying and yelling at Kevin.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Here, Now</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>
    <em>Finally</em>
  </b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It's amazing that week completely disappeared from his life, Kevin thinks absently as Andrew drops him off at his dorm. He doesn’t remember the seven days spent in the ICU, he doesn’t remember much of the next week spent at Andrew's place either. Both Andrew and Neil hovered over him like anxious mother hens. One of them would disappear for hours every day, only to come back with a pinched face.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>"We disinfected your house," Andrew had said after he dropped Kevin off. "But look out for rodents anyway."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Rodents? In Palmetto? Kevin smiles at himself. The campus is starting to fill up with people again but the courtyard to his dorm seems more empty for some reason.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kevin freezes in front of Thea's -</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Well, the pedestal is still here. But it looks like the statue has walked off by itself. There's no sign that it’s been broken or lifted away, not a scratch on the stone pedestal.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You must be sad," someone says to him. A classmate, Maria or Marissa something. "We got back to the dorm and it was gone. No one knows what happened."  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"She was crying," Kevin whispers. "When I last saw her."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Guess she got tired of crying," the girl says before going on her way. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kevin reaches his flat in a daze, finding the lights on. He drops the bag of medicine on the kitchen counter, picks up some clothes for a much-needed shower. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Keehaa."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That voice, and that name, froze Kevin's blood for a second.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She's handcuffed to the chair she's sitting on, though it seems to be more of a precaution than anything. She looks capable of tearing the thin metal chain with her bare hands.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Thea?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Yes," she smiles. "I'm finally free."  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>
    <em>Right here, right now</em>
  </b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He must still be sick, Kevin thinks. He's hallucinating. It must be a new symptom. The virus must've evolved. There's no other reason for Thea to be out of his dreams, dark curls a halo around her head and brown skin dewy in the muggy afternoon heat. She's wearing his clothes, Kevin notices. His t-shirt snug on her shoulders and that one pair of too baggy shorts that he only wears on laundry days.   </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Key's in the sugar pot," she says, pointedly jingling the handcuff. Kevin, for lack of anything better to do, unlocks the cuffs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"This seems inexplicable," he tells her. She smiles. This close, the twinking eyes, and pearly teeth combine to make a near-lethal smile.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"There's an explanation to everything, Keehaa."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She's close, too close. Kevin reaches out to touch her curls. They scrunch under his fingers, soft and silky, nothing like marble. Her hand comes up to hold his. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(</span>
  <em>
    <span>How many nights had he imagined those long fingers running up his skin? How many showers ran long because he couldn’t stop imagining them inside him, touching him just so-</span>
  </em>
  <span>)    </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You're not Bernini's then?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"No, I'm much older. I'm as old as magic, Keehaa. Don't you remember?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Remember? My dreams…"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Yes. You will soon remember."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kevin pushes back hesitantly. "If you’re so old why is your English so good," he accuses.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"When you’re cursed to be a statue that can listen and see and feel everything, there's little to do other than learning," she dryly answers.     </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She's been hearing everything that Kevin ever told her. All his secrets and shame and fear. He feels a fierce blush bloom across his face.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kevin watches as she rubs her wrist, unfolding from the chair and stretching. Kevin looks around his dorm to avoid her eyes. Neil and Andrew seem to have tidied up a bit, but it’s still too small for two people.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I'll order something to eat," he says. "You're okay with vegan, right? And you can take my bed. Must be- must be hard standing still for that long. I'll take the couch-"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Keehaa, it’s alright."  </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>"Why do you call me that?" he demands, defensive. Thea stares at him for a bit, then in a couple of strides, she's right in front of him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Keehaa," she says, her palms coming to rest on Kevin's chest. "My Keehaa, I lost you, and then I lost myself. I was to wait for your return, wait for my freedom but you’re here now. You'll remember, my Keehaa, my love," her breath kisses his neck. "I won’t let anything happen to you, I won't let anyone pull us apart again."        </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If anyone else said that, Kevin would be running in the opposite direction. Hell, if any of his lovers ever said that, Kevin would be calling them a creep.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>But this is Thea. And this feels right. This feels like coming home.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kevin reaches up on his tiptoes to surrender to her kiss. His arms automatically wrap around her shoulders. The appreciated moan that rises up her throat goes straight to his cock. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Thea feels him against her thigh. She places her hands on his hips and walks him backward. "Bed," she says roughly. "Right now, Kee- Kevin."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kevin finds himself prone on his bed, looking up as Thea straddles him for a second, tugging her - </span>
  <em>
    <span>his</span>
  </em>
  <span> - t-shirt off and away. His shirt is next, then his jeans. They're a mess of restless limbs on the sheets. Kevin can't help thrusting up when she bites down on his neck and grinds her pelvis down on him at the same time. Thea pushes off of him and looks around the room. "Lube?" she demands.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Uh," Kevin's brain scrambles to form a coherent thought. "There, that drawer. How- how do you know what lube is?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The click of the Lube bottle opening echoes through the room. "You think you’re such a deviant, talking to a statue about your sexual fantasies? Well, some of them actually did it, right at my feet," she brandishes the bottle. "Nice flavor by the way."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Will you do that- that thing I told you when I was 15?" Kevin can't look at her, he's sure he's blushing everywhere. Thea chuckles and bends down to kiss him once, twice before yanking one of his legs above her shoulders.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Yes, baby," she promises. "I'll do that thing. We've both waited long enough."      </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Find me on tumblr, I'm andreil-minyasten</p></blockquote></div></div>
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